Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, will be leaving his longtime employer of 15 years starting February 29, 2008.
Kaz Hirai, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment will take on Harrison’s responsibility of worldwide studios in addition to his other duties as the main man at SCE. Hirai took over the position of CEO at Sony Japan from Ken Kutaragi last year.
Harrison has had a long distinguished career with Sony and was instrumental in the launch of all four PlayStation platforms. He led Sony Computer Entertainment’s first party game development operations and vigorously went after the improvement of Sony’s online stature.
No word has come out for the reasons behind Harrison’s departure but the content of Kaz Hirai’s statement on the departing executive of worldwide studios sounds amicable for both parties.
Harrison said, "The past 15 years at Sony Computer Entertainment has been the defining journey of my life so far. I am grateful to all the PlayStation family for their incredible support, guidance and friendship. It has been a privilege to serve as part of the team and be inspired by them on a daily basis. I am so proud of everything PlayStation has achieved and will continue to support its future in every way I can."
Hirai gave best wishes to Harrison. "As one of the founding members of SCE, Phil played a key role in the development and growth of the PlayStation business and our industry. It is sad to see him departing from SCE, but I wish to express my gratitude for his many invaluable contributions and also wish Phil the very best of luck in his future endeavors."
Harrison was often very outspoken and blunt concerning Sony matters and presented a fresh new approach to dealing with game industry issues…he told the truth.
After the fiasco of the launch of the PS3, Harrison candidly said that Sony had blown the opportunity to showcase the machine.
"We did a very bad job between E3 2006 and the media event in October. [It is] something which in hindsight I wished we had done – but that’s 20/20 vision. I wished we had released a movie showing the Xross Media Bar in action to the web after E3 2006. Not maybe showing every single feature, but just to give people something to chew on."
Because of Harrison’s "shoot from the hip" style of being honest, he made for a colorful character in the gaming industry.
[via next-gen]
